


Cool People Sit in the Back

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2002-06-30
Updated: 2002-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-15 15:02:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,410
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14792744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of theWest Wing Fanfiction Central, a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in theannouncement post.





	Cool People Sit in the Back

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Cool People Sit in the Back**

**by:** Dee 

**Category/Pairing:** Josh/Donna  
**Rating: MATURE**  
**Spoilers:** Thru Stirred  


**Notes:** Somewhere on the campaign trail. This story is for anyone whoever got stuck in the middle seat on a red eye. Follows: "The Back Seat"  


  
"Window."

Josh held up his hands in surrender not wanting to upset her. She had long since passed the transition stage into Hysterical Girl. In cases such as these, it was best to just agree. As the bus sat only two seats per row, Josh felt comfortable relinquishing the window seat this time.

"Yes, ma'am."

Donna moved in front of him to the back seat of the bus and slid into the seat by the window. He took the aisle and dropped his head against the headrest.

It had been an endless day, and tomorrow would only be longer. He wasn't looking forward to it. Damn, he was getting old.

After two seconds, Donna dropped her head on his shoulder. He could feel the evenness of her breathing and knew she was already asleep. He envied her.

"Hey."

Josh lifted an eye. "What are you doing?"

"I'm coming to sit with you guys," Sam said.

"Yo! Sparky," CJ called from behind Sam. "What do you think you're doing?"

"I'm trying to sit down after a sixteen hour day."

"That's my seat," CJ said pointing to the last seat in the bus across from Josh and Donna.

"We have assigned seats?"

CJ slid her way past Sam. "Implied seats," she said. "I always sit in the back of the bus."

"How come?" Sam asked.

"Because that's where the cool people sit, Sam," CJ told him.

Sam looked to Josh and Josh nodded.

"You're saying I'm not cool?"

CJ patted him on his head. "No. Of course you're cool. You're the coolest. It's just that I'm cooler."

"How do you figure?"

"You've seen me do the Jackal right."

Sam relented. "What about Josh? He's not cooler than me."

"Yes, he is."

"Yes, I am," Josh confirmed. 

"I know," Sam sighed. He slunked up a few rows and sat.

CJ glanced over at where Donna was already fast asleep against Josh's shoulder. "That's a familiar sight."

"Yeah," mumbled trying not to move his shoulder too much and disrupt her.

CJ smiled nostalgically. "I remembered when you first hired her. You were like a kid with a puppy. Can I keep her, can I keep her! We thought you were pathetic."

"Why?"

"Because we thought you just wanted to sleep with her."

"I didn't," he said, even though part of him knew it was a lie. It was just back then sleeping with Donna would have been wrong. She'd been lost and vulnerable when he'd found her. It would have been like stealing candy from a baby.

"I know. You fell in love with her instead."

Josh blinked at CJ.

"Not `in love' in love with her," CJ clarified. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah."

"You're `in love' in love with Amy."

"Right," Josh muttered. Donna shifted her position on his shoulder. He considered lifting the armrest between them to make her more comfortable, but didn't.

"So are you?"

"Am I what?"

"In love with Amy."

"What's this? The third degree."

"It's just a question, Josh."

"I don't know," he sighed. "You ever think about the future, CJ?"

"I try not to."

"No, seriously."

"I am being serious. I can't think about the future and do this job. There's too much to handle in any one given moment. My life is ever in the present."

"I don't mean work, I mean the not work part of life."

"What's that?"

"The stuff you do at home."

"Like the laundry?"

"I'm going to be forty-one this year," Josh said philosophically.

"So?"

"It's just that when I was twenty-one I know I probably thought forty-  
one was ancient. I know I thought I would have been married by now. Maybe even had some kids. Or at least a dog."

"You're a workaholic, Josh. It wouldn't have been fair to be married to someone when she wasn't your first priority. Look at what happened to Leo."

"Yeah, but look at the President. Some people find a way to make it work."

"Some do. You, me, Toby, even Sam don't. Or won't. Or can't. For that matter neither has Donna," CJ added and watched an expression cross over Josh's face that she couldn't decipher.

"I know. And I told myself it was probably for the best. But now� I've been thinking about the future."

"What are you saying, that you're thinking about marriage?"

"Maybe."

"So you do love Amy."

Donna shifted again, and Josh moved slightly to accommodate her new position.

"I'm not thinking about marriage in regards to one person. I'm thinking more about the institution of."

"Ah. The institution of marriage. Are you for it or against it?"

"As a rule, for it. More now than ever before. Because at the end of the day, this job isn't going to be here for much longer. Whether we win or lose, something is going to have to come next."

"Yeah," CJ sighed. "Something is. It's going to be weird though. All of us off doing our own thing. We won't be a team anymore."

"No."

CJ chuckled. "Can you imagine shouting Donna's name and not having her answer?" She saw the look cross his face again and her smile faded.

"No."

"You've really been thinking about this."

"Donna got a job offer," he explained as an answer. "A good one. I guess, I don't know. I told her it was stupid to take a job that might not be around a year from now and she said�"

"That her job might be around a year from now. Wow. But she didn't take it."

"No."

"Maybe she should have."

"Huh?"

"Maybe she should have taken the job. I know it's hard to accept, Josh, but you're going to have to let her go someday. Your little puppy is all grown up."

"Okay, but I wouldn't call her a dog to her face, CJ," he said being intentionally obtuse.

"She can't be your assistant forever. Whether the job ends in the next few months or in the next few years, eventually she'll move on."

"I know."

"It doesn't have to be all bad, Josh. You can marry Amy and have little egomaniacal feminists."

He smiled but CJ could tell he wasn't that amused. 

"You know I just realized that there was something different."

"What?"

"You and Donna. You've still got the armrest between you."

"Yeah." Those were the rules now. "It's to protect our boundaries."

CJ looked at Donna's hand curled around his arm, her head resting trustingly on his shoulder. The only space between them was the space enforced by the armrest. CJ turned her head away from them and closed her eyes. "You want a little piece of advice, Joshua?"

"Never, Claudia Jean."

"Stop thinking about the future. It's not going to get you there any faster and it's only going to drive you crazy worrying about it. Live in the moment."

Live in the moment. She was probably right. "Okay, I'm agreeing with you but only because I'm tired."

"Hey," Toby said walking to the back of the bus. "Move over CJ."

CJ did as asked and slid toward the window. Sam, now two rows up, turned back to glare at them. "How come Toby gets to sit in the back of the bus?"

"Because I'm cool," he answered as if that was obvious.

Sam huffed and turned around to face forward again.

Toby turned to Josh, saw Donna and scowled. 

"What?" Josh asked in response to Toby's scowl.

"You've got the armrest down."

"So?"

"That can't be comfortable for her. It's going to bruise her ribs."

Josh looked down at the stupid barrier. Live in the moment, CJ said. Well in the moment, Amy was in DC. He was on a bus with Donna in the middle of the some state which he'd just forgotten the name of, and he didn't want Donna to have bruised ribs. 

Gingerly, so as not to wake her, he lifted the armrest and let her body fall against his. He closed his eyes and almost immediately felt sleep sneak up on him. 

Sleeping with Donna, he decided, was much better than thinking about a future without her in it.

The End. 

Sequel: Last Room in the Inn


End file.
